There’s no shortage of frameworks and methodologies that promise to improve communication. If you’re a professional communicator, you’re no doubt aware of the strengths and weaknesses of various approaches. They streamline workflows, they reassure clients, and they produce standardized deliverables within predictable time frames. But they can also stifle creativity, lead to cookie-cutter solutions, and even fail to ask the right questions.

It’s easy to create a plan. It’s harder to solve a problem. What most frameworks lack is room for design thinking.